New World: Are There Classes & Races? Answered

Amazon Games’ first MMORPG doesn’t stray too far from many of the genre’s tropes in terms of its overall design, but there are one or two things it does differently from several of its more popular counterparts. Here, we’ll explain everything you need to know about whether there are classes and races in New World.

Are There Classes & Races in New World? Answered

As alluded to above, New World goes about its role-playing mechanics differently than other MMORPGs. There aren’t actually conventional character classes, nor do you choose ‘races.’ Of course, you can shape your character’s build across different specialties, and certainly you can alter their appearance to look as you please, but there aren’t named classes and races as there are in many more traditional RPGs.

Instead, level progression sees you allocate attribute points across strength, dexterity, intelligence, focus, and constitution, as shown above. Meanwhile, the act of performing a certain action increases your ‘mastery’ of it, and you will then be able to upgrade it for the purposes of shaping your build. In this sense, progression is all very organic, and you can, at any moment, respec your character to fit within the mold of a different build.

For example, if you wanted to go for, say, a wizard-style character, you would invest a lot of attribute points in intelligence and focus, which scale with magic weapons like staffs and gauntlets, and offer mana regeneration and other wizardry-appropriate perks. You would also naturally increase your mastery of staffs and gauntlets by using them consistently in combat, while your proficiency in trade skills associated with magic weapons would increase as you worked toward bettering those particular weapons (alchemy for potions, engineering for ranged weapons like gauntlets, etc).

As for races, again, there are none to choose from other than shaping your character to appear the way you want them to. The lore of New World doesn’t differentiate between the appearances of its characters, but you can role-play the ‘look’ to your preferences. Just don’t expect to be able to choose a Wood Elf template or feline-looking humanoid like the Khajiit from The Elder Scrolls!

Once you have your character appearance locked in and have decided on what sort of build you’d like to work toward, you will be able to pledge allegiance to one of three different factions in the game. You can read more about the process and what it means here.

That should give you a good overview of whether there are classes and races in New World. For more tips and guides on the game, be sure to check our guide wiki. Alternatively, you should also see some related content for the game below that may prove useful.

For any questions you have that aren’t answered on the site, do feel free to reach out in the comment section below and we’ll do our best to lend a hand.